Making Our Wedding Cake!

[Nicholas Mosher]

My fiancee and I will be getting married October 9th, and being foodies we plan to make our own multi-tiered wedding cake for roughly 75 people.

The wedding will be non-traditional - semi-formal. We're aiming for the flavors of coffee and chocolate, and plan for a Mocha colored cake with purple chrysanthemums.

Our project this summer is to develop a cake and frosting recipe that we feel is second to none for our guests. Any recipe recommendations?

 

[getoutamykitchen]

No suggestions, but congratulations on the up and coming nuptials. The cake flavor sounds delish!

 

[ChefJune]

Not to rain on your parade, BUT.... this is the biggest day of your lives, and I don't know why you want to reinvent the wheel for it.

Rose Levy Beranbaum has wedding cakes down to a science, and they are delicious. When I was catering, I often turned to her formulae, and I strongly suggest you could not do better. Check out her book "The Cake Bible." and if you can't find it, I would be happy to xerox the necessary pages for your consideration (even tho there are a LOT!)

I do hope you are not planning to do all the food for the wedding yourselves. Not that it's impossible, only that it adds unnecessary stress to an already stressful occasion.

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

ChefJune - Just the cake! The wedding is actually going to be potluck, with the cake provided by us. Beer and wine purchased (by us) and served (free) by a licensed friend (along with other beverages). We know a number of foodies, so the dinner should blow any catered service out of the water.

We plan to spend all summer trying recipes and coming up with a cake we feel is perfect. Just looking to start trying out recommendations from various cookbooks and foodies on this forum! I'll look into picking up that cookbook for sure.

 

[Mimizkitchen]

Nick I agree with June, I just recently bought Rose Beranbaum's newest book, Rose's Heavenly Cakes, and I love love love it... One suggestion I have tho, if you buy one of her books, invest in a scale, if you don't already have one... Not only is it much more accurate, it is so much easier... Good Luck to you both and please do post pic's of your beautiful cake...

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

Excellent! Sounds like she knows her stuff. Sarah and I are going to see about getting them at our local library or through the inter-library loan system. From there we just might purchase...

 

[Mimizkitchen]

Excellent! Sounds like she knows her stuff. Sarah and I are going to see about getting them at our local library or through the inter-library loan system. From there we just might purchase...

Nick go to Barnes and Noble grab a cup of coffee and peruse her books... Have fun!!!

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

Mimiz - We did just that! After getting our Mocha Choca Yin Yangs we browsed through Rose's books. Decided to purchase the same book you recently aquired - "Heavenly Cakes".

We also sent for "The Cake Bible" through the inter-library loan program.

 

[Mimizkitchen]

Mimiz - We did just that! After getting our Mocha Choca Yin Yangs we browsed through Rose's books. Decided to purchase the same book you recently aquired - "Heavenly Cakes".

We also sent for "The Cake Bible" through the inter-library loan program.

I think you will be happy Nick, just pay attention to detail, it's amazing what you can learn..

 

[PattY1]

ChefJune - Just the cake! The wedding is actually going to be potluck, with the cake provided by us. Beer and wine purchased (by us) and served (free) by a licensed friend (along with other beverages). We know a number of foodies, so the dinner should blow any catered service out of the water.

We plan to spend all summer trying recipes and coming up with a cake we feel is perfect. Just looking to start trying out recommendations from various cookbooks and foodies on this forum! I'll look into picking up that cookbook for sure.

MHO: If the reception is pot luck, I would have a casual wedding aposed to semi-formal.

Kodos to you for making your own unique cake!

 

[Wyogal]

MHO: it's YOUR wedding, do what you want! And ENJOY!!! Have fun this summer with the plans! Let us know how your cake trials turn out!

 

[bakechef]

I have known a few people that have made their own wedding cakes. If a couple have the patience to work on a project like this together, then I think it is a good sign about how they may get along in the future.

I love when people think "out of the box" for their wedding, this is a very special day, and why not have it exactly the way YOU want it!

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

Thanks!
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PattY1 - I guess casual is probably the proper word for it. Being a blue-collar guy, semi-formal for me means dockers, a tucked in button-up, and a sportcoat...
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We're not religious, so the wedding and reception will both be at a single location. We've booked a large house with an upstairs ballroom that has windows on three sides and a stage for a local fiddle band we like. It's in a small rural New Hampshire town that (hopefully) will be filled with colored maples and white birch (we chose the peak foliage week).

So a small ceremony w/readings, big potluck, and some Irish/folk dancing.
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We're going to start trying out cakes this week.

Pictures to come for sure!

 

[Wyogal]

sounds VERY cool! I play in a local Irish session here. Sounds like the craic will be great!

 

[Mimizkitchen]

Thanks!
-----
PattY1 - I guess casual is probably the proper word for it. Being a blue-collar guy, semi-formal for me means dockers, a tucked in button-up, and a sportcoat...
-----
We're not religious, so the wedding and reception will both be at a single location. We've booked a large house with an upstairs ballroom that has windows on three sides and a stage for a local fiddle band we like. It's in a small rural New Hampshire town that (hopefully) will be filled with colored maples and white birch (we chose the peak foliage week).

So a small ceremony w/readings, big potluck, and some Irish/folk dancing.
-----
We're going to start trying out cakes this week.

Pictures to come for sure!

When do our evites come???

 

[PattY1]

Thanks!
-----
PattY1 - I guess casual is probably the proper word for it. Being a blue-collar guy, semi-formal for me means dockers, a tucked in button-up, and a sportcoat...
-----

I just had visions of myself carrying a pan of my baked beans wearing a cocktail dress and heels!!!

 

[ChefJune]

We're going to start trying out cakes this week.

Pictures to come for sure!

One thing for sure: you're going to have a lot of fun tasting the trials!

 

[Janet H]

We had a wedding something like this and I have some advice... enlist someone to be responsible for handling the potluck on-site. Getting everything out, arranged and keeping the buffet table stocked, clean and lovely takes constant attention. This will leave you free to visit and focus on other more important issues and more importantly be relaxed and able to enjoy the day.

Our cake/s was an orange scented cake with bits of candied ginger and black walnuts. We had a pair of these; one with dark chocolate icing and the other with a bourbon butter cream.

Good luck - sounds like you have a fun event planned.

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

ChefJune - Hopefully we won't have to purchase new clothes to fit into by the end of it!
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Janet - We plan to have a couple people help out on the side. They will be pouring drinks and handling anything needed for the buffet table.
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Here is one of the cakes we are drawing some aesthetic inspiration from...

And a YouTube link for the fiddle band that will be playing for us!

[youtube]PT8ECo4CwSg[/youtube]

 

[Wyogal]

good craic for sure!!!!